A study on the effectiveness of Hong Kong's land use and housing policies in protecting the aging population and low-income groups in the context of sustainable development

Abstract

As the ageing population grows in Hong Kong, the government aims to enable the elderly to live with dignity and comfortable environment, several public housing schemes for the elderly has been around for decades in Hong Kong, but it has not updated with times, with this in mind, we study the current housing policies for the elderly, considering the changing demand and the shortage supply of public housing, under the strategy of ageing in place, we use document and historical analysis, and statistical calculation methods provided by ArcGIS pro, to assess the effectiveness of these schemes. The result shows that the current imbalance between demand and supply of public housing for elderly, and as decent housing not only improves the elderly's living conditions and eliminates social isolation and loneliness, but it also increases their autonomy and dignity, however, there is no comprehensive study on the public housing for the low-income elderly, it is necessary that the government should introduce policies based on the actual situation of public housing for elderly, addressing the needs and future challenges, to realize the elderly to age in place more conveniently.